In the manufacture of a reinforcement for a concrete construction a number of reinforcement rods must usually be connected to each other, using binding wire or by means of welding. This can take place in a concrete formwork, wherein the rods, brought to length and into shape, are arranged in their correct position and then mutually connected with binding wire or welded. Many prefabricated reinforcements or reinforcement parts are also applied which are manufactured elsewhere and then placed in the formwork. In order to manufacture prefabricated reinforcements, particularly reinforcement mesh for floors and walls and reinforcement cages for pillars, beams and so forth, use is made of auxiliary means for placing and holding in the correct position the reinforcement rods for connecting, see for instance U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,834 or WO 02/064906. Such auxiliary means are however expensive because they are made to size for only a single application.
When working without such auxiliary means the steel fixer must work with the reinforcement rods by hand, which requires much laborious manipulation and much professional skill, wherein errors are easily made in the dimensioning and a precise positioning and orientation of the rods is difficult.
There therefore exists a need for an affordable and more universal auxiliary means for manufacturing a reinforcement, in particular reinforcement cages, with which the reinforcement rods for connecting can be placed and held in simple and precise manner at their correct position and in the correct orientation. The auxiliary means must preferably be suitable for a plurality of rod diameters, rod lengths and reinforcement geometries, varying from a simple flat reinforcement construction to a more complex, three-dimensional reinforcement construction with for instance curved rods, curved surfaces and corners which are not right angles. It must herein be possible to construct the auxiliary means in simple and easy manner and preferably reuse it for other reinforcements. The object of the present invention is to provide such an auxiliary means.